Humidity sensors are often installed within rooms with humidity affecting features such as showers, baths, water heaters and other sources of humidity to monitor the humidity within the rooms. The humidity sensors are often operably connected to a humidity control element, such as an exhaust fan, and configured to automatically signal the control element when the humidity in the room exceeds predetermined boundaries. Excessively high or low humidity levels in interior rooms can result in mold growth; insect infestation, rotting of wood, drywall or other structural elements; peeling of paint or wall paper and other undesirable effects. As the humidity created by certain humidity sources can rapidly change the humidity within the room, a primary consideration of humidity sensors is providing an accurate and current measurement of the humidity in the room to minimize the response time between the humidity within the room reaching unacceptable levels and detection of the unacceptable humidity by the sensor.
As humidity gradients often occur within rooms due to the lower density of humid air, humidity sensors are frequently mounted in a wall of the room to elevate the sensors to provide a more accurate humidity measurement of the room as a whole. However, elevating the humidity sensors makes the sensors more visible to people in the room creating an undesirable aesthetic appearance. Sensors or sensor housings that protrude from the wall are often considered particularly undesirable. Accordingly, humidity sensors are often partially or entirely recessed within the wall with a face place flush or nearly flush with the wall to minimize the protrusion of the sensor or housing from the wall. While the recessed sensor improves the aesthetic appearance of the humidity sensor, recessing the sensor frequently hinders the measurement of the ambient humidity by the sensor. As a result, the recessed sensors often have slower response times than sensors protruding from the wall, which correspondingly reduces the effectiveness of the humidity control element in returning the humidity to acceptable levels. In addition, the recessed positioning of the sensors are often sensitive to the humidity of air currents moving within the walls.